Lost in the shuffle

School librarians fear valuable collections may be squandered amid consolidation

Over the last five years, Brooke Williams has grown an impressive intuition for the needs of her students as a librarian at Owens Road Elementary School in Oxon Hill. She knows her students favor reading about football more than basketball and that they have a growing curiosity about dinosaurs.

But as a librarian at one of the eight Prince George's County schools slated to be closed at the end of the academic year, Williams is among librarians who fear their collections could be lost in the shuffle, costing the school system millions of dollars in books, videos and electronics.

"Whenever [students] requested something, I've ordered it," Williams said, who estimates her school's library collection is worth more than $200,000. "Now the books may end up in a box somewhere and disappear into nowhere."

Generally, when a school closes in the county, its library material is transferred to the same school as students.

But several librarians at schools that are slated for closure or that will receive students said that during a move, books and other items are often lost, and many materials are permanently stored in boxes or given away because the process of recoding barcodes and incorporating them into another school's collection is so daunting and time-consuming.

"What's going to happen to it? The collection will be lost. We're inefficient in this county," Williams said. "All of this stuff will be lost in the shuffle, and the school district will lose even more money."

With the school board in the midst of finalizing a consolidation plan and considering a boundary change that together would shave millions off a budget strapped for cash, parents are also wondering whether the allocation of library material is a high enough priority for school officials.

"It's a valid question that no one is asking. Everybody is focusing on the students and staff, but what about the material?" said Ray Lacy of Accokeek, a parent and PTA president at Henry G. Ferguson Elementary in Accokeek.

Derek Mitchell, executive director of new schools for the county, said that the school system will allocate $1.3 million to ensure material from closing schools is properly incorporated into receiving schools.

"There are dollars that are going to every receiving school," he said. "If we do our job right, it will be the last thing that anybody talks about."

Pat Williams, a librarian at Glassmanor Elementary School in Oxon Hill, which is set to receive 43 percent of Owens Road students next school year, said she is concerned about what will happen to library materials coming from the closed school.

Pat Williams said that whenever material is transferred between schools, the librarian must re-barcode books one at a time and find space for the new material.

"That's a job that could take months to do," she said. "Right now, I don't have the shelf space for that — someone else will have to do it. It's like moving into a new house and you don't have enough space, what do you do?" she said.

County schools have until the new consolidation plan takes effect in August to incorporate library materials and other supplies into receiving schools. Mitchell said a plan will be developed to ensure material is transferred that includes sweeps of all closing schools to salvage material.

Florida Valdez, a librarian at Middleton Valley Elementary School in Temple Hills, estimates her school's library collection is worth $150,000. She said she was optimistic students wouldn't be negatively affected by the moves and would be reading regardless.